Dark Legacy
by The Original Space Cadet
Summary: Meryl discovers a shocking secret about her past. Now edited. Please R&R.
1. Dreams

Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun.

After some constructive criticism in a review, I've edited the story. The edits include complete rewrites of Chapters 1 and 2. I also had to rewrite Chapter 3, but this was because of my own stupidity. I forgot to save it to my hard drive. Credits go out to EmpressGalaxia for the review that led to the edits.

The dreams were occurring more and more often. You've been lied to, voices said. There was a feeling that something was hidden, that she didn't know something; and whatever it was, that she had a right to know. Meryl Strife of the Bernardelli Insurance Society awoke with a stir. It was late in the morning; she noticed when she looked out the window. Slowly she dragged herself out of bed and into the main room of the house where she was staying with Millie and Vash. It had been six months since Vash's final battle with Knives, and he was in the town of Virginia Rocks, laying low while tending to the still-healing-but-unconscious Knives. Millie, meanwhile, was preparing to give birth.

"More dreams, Meryl," Vash asked as she walked into the room.

"Yes," Meryl said. "This makes two weeks in a row of these dreams."

"Gee, Meryl," said Millie, who had been quiet until now, "what do you think these dreams mean?"

"I'm not sure," Meryl said. "But they feel like there's something that I need to know, something that's been hidden my whole life from me."

"So you think there's more to this than just mere dreams," Vash said.

"Yes," Meryl said.

"So what are you going to do," Millie wanted to know.

"I'm going home," Meryl told her. "I have a feeling that whatever these dreams mean, they have to do with my parents. I'm going to talk to them and see if they know anything."

"Then what," Millie asked.

"It depends," Meryl answered. "If I don't find out something, then I'll come back here. But if I do learn something, I'm going to follow up on it until I learn the truth. I'm going to find a car and head for home first thing tomorrow."

Meryl had enjoyed the peace and quiet the last six months, but the dreams were getting out of control. The company would kill Meryl if it found out she had skipped out on her assignment like this, but it had to be done. She knew that she had to do something to try to quiet the dreams; it had been two weeks since she had slept quietly, and if she didn't try to do something, she wasn't sure when the next quiet sleep would come.


	2. Truth Revealed

Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun.

Bright and early the next morning, Meryl was leaving Virginia Rocks in a car she had managed to borrow from a local for $$400. She was heading towards her home in New Montana, a journey of about 2400 iles. Vash and Millie had wanted to come along, but Meryl insisted that they stay there. Vash had to continue watching over Knives, who he had wanted to bring along, and Millie, being pregnant, was in no shape for a long journey like this. So Meryl rode by herself, reflecting on the town she had grown up in. It was a small town; until she had decided to leave to work for Bernardelli, she had never set foot outside it. Her growing-up had been that of an ordinary small-town girl; she had the experiences of any other girl that had grown up in a small town. Except that she always had the feeling that something wasn't quite right. She never told anyone about this; it had been a secret her whole life. One reason she went to work for Bernardelli was to attempt to quiet the feelings so she wouldn't have to be bothered by them. For a long time, it had worked; at least until the past few weeks when the dreams came. She had had dreams like this as a little girl, this wasn't the first time. She couldn't imagine her parents hiding anything from her; they had been very close. But she was drawing closer to home. Hopefully, if there were any answers to be found, she would have them soon.

A day and a half after setting out from Virginia Rocks, Meryl arrived in her hometown of New Montana. Not much had changed, she noticed as she drove along towards her old house. Meryl even thought she saw a couple of people recognize her as she came into town. She noticed that her old house hadn't changed as she pulled up to it. Her father answered when she knocked on the door.

"Meryl? Meryl, it is you," her fathered exclaimed, embracing her in a hug.

"How have you been, Dad," Meryl inquired.

"Fine," her dad answered, leading her inside.

"Well, look who it is," Meryl's mother piped up when she saw Meryl walk through the door.

"Hi, Mom," Meryl said.

"It's been so long since we've seen you, Meryl," her mother said. "What brings you back home? Is everything alright?"

"No, it isn't," Meryl told her. "We need to talk about something."

Meryl sat down with her parents and told them about the dreams she'd been having recently. She also told them about the feeling that something wasn't quite right that she had growing up.

"I've always had this weird feeling, like something was being hidden from me," Meryl explained. "And I've had these dreams for two weeks straight now."

Her parents looked at each other slowly. Then they began to speak.

"Well, Meryl," her father said. "You see, there is something that you should know."

"We were hoping we'd never have to tell you this, Meryl," her mother continued. "But it looks like we don't have a choice. You're not our real daughter. You're adopted."

Meryl was in shock. "Adopted? How could you not tell me this! This is very important information that I had a right to know!"

"Meryl, please calm down," her father tried to say. "You see…"

"Shut up," Meryl interrupted. "Just shut up and get away from me!"

Meryl got up and ran outside in tears.

"I'd better go after her," her father said.

"No, let's both go," replied Meryl's mother.

They got up and followed Meryl outside. But Meryl was nowhere to be seen. The car was still there, but Meryl had run off; they didn't know where to. They decided to stay together and search town until they found her. Even though the town was small, the search took hours. Whenever Meryl saw her parents or heard their voices, she would hide or run somewhere else. After six hours of searching, Meryl's parents finally found her.

"Leave me alone and go away," Meryl said, not even looking at them.

Meryl's mother sat down next to her.

"Please listen, Meryl," she said. "We're sorry we didn't tell you. Yes, you had a right to know. But we had our reasons to keep it a secret. Please come back to the house and we'll explain everything."

Meryl calmed down and returned home with her parents.

"Okay," she said when they were inside, "tell me."

"We wanted to tell you, Meryl," her father told her. "We knew you would be able to handle it. But we also knew that if we told you, you would ask how we found you. We weren't sure if you would be able to handle that."

"How did you find me," Meryl asked.

"If you're sure you want to know, we'll tell you," her father said.

"I'm sure," Meryl told him.

"We found you when you were just a baby, Meryl," her mother said as she began the story. "We were passing through the town of November when we found you lying outside in the desert, with no clothes. We had no idea how long you'd been there or how long it had been since you'd had something to eat. We couldn't believe you were still alive. The locals seemed to be afraid of you. We couldn't understand how anyone could be afraid of such a sweet child; much less leave them to die in the desert. It took a lot of arguing, but finally we were able to get the townspeople to give you some food and something to wrap you in. Then they hurriedly kicked us out of town. We took you home with us and raised you as our own. So now you know."

"I see," said Meryl. "But why would the townspeople have been afraid of me? I was just a baby."

"We don't know," her father told her. "We never went back to that town."

"Then I'm going to go there myself and find out why," Meryl stated.

"Are you sure about this," her mother asked.

"Yes," Meryl replied. "Thank you for telling me the truth about how you found me. But I need to know why those people were afraid of me. How do I get to November?"

"When you leave town, head southwest. November is about 100 iles from here," Meryl's father told her. But please at least stay the night. You've already had a long journey to get here. You need rest."

Meryl nodded. "Okay, I'll stay the night. But I'm leaving tomorrow and not a day later. I need to find out why people could be scared of a baby."


	3. DemonMan

Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun.

Meryl stayed the next morning with her parents. Around noon, she set out for November. She looked at her parents as she got in her borrowed car. "Thank you so much for everything," she told them.

"Don't mention it, Meryl," her mother said. "Whether or not we gave birth to you, you're our daughter."

"Are you sure you're going to be all right," her father asked.

"November's only 100 iles from here, I should be able to make it by tomorrow," Meryl told him. She hugged her parents and said "Thank you" one more time before driving off.

Her parents watched her leave. "There she goes," her father said.

"Let her go," Meryl's mother told him. "It's her decision."

As she drove to November, Meryl found herself thinking about what her parents had told her: that the locals had been afraid of her. Why? How could someone be afraid of a baby? Meryl could not find an answer to this question. But it was an answer she needed. As the sun rose, Meryl arrived at November. She'd been thinking about how someone could be scared of a baby the entire way there. But still she had no answer.

As she went into town, she noticed an old man staring at her. Meryl tried to ignore him, but he kept staring, making Meryl very uncomfortable.

"Excuse me, sir," Meryl asked, "but could you please stop staring at me like that?"

The man's eyes widened with terror.

"It's the child of the demon-man," he screamed.

"Demon-man? What are you talking about," Meryl asked.

"Stay away from me, demon-child," the old man screamed, then ran away.

Meryl walked into town, confused by the old man's behavior. Child of the demon-man? What did he mean?

The old man's warning apparently had carried. People looked at Meryl with fear, then quickly looked away, shutting their doors and windows as she approached. Some of them screamed "The demon-man's child" in terror. Meryl soon found herself standing alone inside the town. The inhabitants had vanished so quickly, it seemed like a ghost town.

Meryl now had another question. What did they mean by child of the demon-man?


	4. Father

Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun.

Warning: This chapter contains mentions of rape. It also contains spoilers if you haven't seen all of Trigun.

Meryl wandered through November all day, trying to find a local willing to talk to her and tell her what was going on. She didn't find any though, as the locals reacted in a wide variety of ways expressing fear, from running away to pointing guns at her. Meryl spent a good deal of the day dodging the locals' bullets; she probably spent as much time dodging bullets as the locals did dodging her.

Finally, after much dodging and looking at expressions of fear, but with no answers, Meryl found a hotel that hadn't been locked. The owner had probably forgotten to lock it in all the confusion. As she approached, she saw the clerk was frozen in fear. When he could finally speak, he said "No, please, go away!"

"I'm not going to hurt you," Meryl tried to reassure him. "I just need a place to stay for the night."

The clerk wouldn't listen. "Please, just go away," he shouted as he backed against the wall.

Meryl still walked towards him, saying, "I just want a room to stay in tonight. That's all."

The clerk tossed a key at Meryl. "Here, take it," he said. Then he ran out of the hotel in fear.

Meryl had to try every room in the hotel to find which one the key went to, since the clerk hadn't told her. She finally found it, room 206, on the second floor. She entered the room and lay down on the bed. "This town sure hasn't been very helpful," she said, yawning. "It's been very unpleasant. Why is everyone afraid of me? Oh well, maybe things will be better tomorrow."

Soon she fell asleep.

Late in the night, she felt a voice stirring her. "Wake, up Meryl."

"Huh," Meryl said as she woke up. She looked around but all she could see was darkness.

"It's time to learn the truth about your past, Meryl," the voice said.

"Who are you," Meryl asked.

"Why, I'm your father," the voice told her.

Meryl could see somebody walking through the darkness. They wore a white coat, and their hair was blue. They came closer and Meryl could see them clearly. She didn't know this person, but she had heard Vash talk about him enough to recognize him. Legato.

"Go away," Meryl shouted.

Meryl swiftly pulled out one of her derringers and fired it towards Legato. But what she saw was Vash standing there, with blood coming out a bullet hole in his head.

"Meryl, why," Vash gasped, looking at Meryl.

Vash's body dropped to the ground and vanished. It had been an illusion.

"Were you aiming for me," Legato wanted to know. He was standing right where Vash had been.

Meryl was stunned. How could Legato be here? He was dead; he had forced Vash to kill him, Meryl had been there. What was Legato doing here?

"Why are you here," Meryl asked. "Are you an illusion, too?"

"No, I am quite real," Legato answered. "And I am here because I am your father. Weren't you listening earlier?"

"No," Meryl said. "How did you get in here?"

"We are not in your hotel room, Meryl. We are inside your mind. I can only appear like this to those I am related too," Legato said.

"So why didn't you do it before," Meryl asked.

"I couldn't," Legato told her. "For me to do this, the person must be aware that we are related. To tell you the truth, I didn't even know you were my daughter. But when you heard what the locals called you and learned your father was a 'demon-man,' I sensed it. I realized who you were and the door to your mind opened. The fact that I'm dead doesn't matter."

"How could you be my father," Meryl screamed.

"I raped your mother," Legato said. "When I saw her, she was so full of life, always smiling, always generous. It was obvious someone needed to teach her the pain of living, so I forced her to pleasure me sexually. I made her pregnant and left. I came back for you when you were born. I took you into the desert and left you there, so that you too would learn the pain of living. I heard your mother committed suicide soon afterwards."

"So that's why the townspeople were afraid of me," Meryl said.

"Yes, now you know," said Legato. "But it won't make any difference. Because I'm going to keep you trapped here in your mind. You may not have learned the pain of living before, but you will learn it now."

Meryl suddenly lost her footing. She landed in great pain. Understanding what was going on, she reached for one of her derringers, only to feel her hand twist.

"Fool," Legato said. "That didn't work the first time. Now you will learn pain."

Meryl looked up at Legato, helpless against the assault.

Congratulations chibi chibi, you guessed who Meryl's father is! Note that I didn't take the idea from you, I had already planned this.


	5. Showdown

Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun.

As Legato telekinetically inflicted pain on her, Meryl lay helpless. She couldn't fight back as Legato lashed out with wave after wave of his psychic attack. Finally she managed to stand up, only to be knocked back down by the next wave. Legato showed no signs of stopping as he continued.

Finally Meryl managed to say "No, I don't believe it. You can't be my father!"

"Come now," said Legato, temporarily stopping his attack. "Surely you've noticed the resemblance. The similar hairstyle, the same partiality to white clothes? Besides, what about all those dreams you've been having? And the feeling that something was always out of place. Let's not forget the locals' title for you: child of the demon-man. I certainly fit the description for a demon-man. Don't you think so?"

Meryl thought for a moment. Her hair did look like a feminine version of Legato's, and she couldn't deny that she loved to wear white. There was no denying the dreams and the awkward feelings either, and yes, Legato certainly was a demon. All the pieces fit together.

"And," Legato said, "need I remind you that I am inside your mind and can only do this to people I am related too?"

"It's true, isn't it," Meryl said. "You are my father, aren't you?"

"Yes," said Legato. "Now I will teach you what you should have been taught when you were born. I will teach you the pain of living."

Meryl felt her arm jerk up and fly toward her face; felt the pain as she was forced to gash her own cheek. She was lifted up off the ground and hurled through the air, landing hard on her side. Next she was pushed back, eventually falling on her back when she stopped. She was lifted up yet again and slammed straight down on her stomach. Legato continued, forcing Meryl's body into positions it normally wasn't capable of reaching. He also continued his psychic wave of pain; this went on until Meryl could barely stand to breathe. Finally Meryl saw her hand reach under coat and pull out a derringer; she was forced to stand up and point it at her head.

"In case you didn't know, Meryl," Legato said, "you're not a ghost like I am, or an illusion like Vash was. This will kill you."

As Meryl's finger went to the trigger, a flashback occurred. It had been so long since this memory, she had almost forgotten. But it had come at the right time. It was a memory of the old man that had owned the geo-plant land that she and Millie had helped to protect. He looked at Meryl and told her to walk her own path and to hold her head high.

"Walk my own path," said Meryl. "Hold my head high……"

She found the strength to pull her hand away from the trigger. She pointed her derringer towards Legato and started to march towards him.

"What is this," Legato demanded, startled that he had lost his control.

"You've lost," Meryl said. "You may be my biological father, but my path doesn't have to follow yours, that of some psycho nutcase. I've chosen my path, and there's no room for you on it."

Legato staggered back, unable to regain control.

"Now leave my mind," Meryl commanded.

Legato was unable to refuse Meryl's command. The door to Meryl's mind opened and sucked him out. Then it slammed shut. Meryl awoke suddenly in her bed. She reached her hand to her cheek and found that it really was bleeding. She tore off her sleeves and used them to bandage her wounds. Then she checked outside to see what time it was. It was almost light out. Meryl got ready to leave town. But the locals didn't let her go peacefully. Meryl had to dodge a hail of bullets to get to her borrowed car. Finally she was able to leave town. She drove and arrived back at her parents' house the next day. They were waiting to greet her when she walked to the door.

"Meryl, are you alright," her father wanted to know when he saw her wounds.

"Yes," Meryl told him, "I'll be fine."

"Did you find the answers you were looking for," her mother asked.

"Yes," Meryl said. "I found out the truth behind my real parents."

"So, what was the truth," asked her mother.

"All I'll say is that it wasn't pretty," Meryl said. "But I did learn an important lesson. Wherever I may have come from, it's the path I've chosen to walk that defines who I am."

Meryl had chosen her path, and there was only room for one set of parents on it: the ones who had raised her. She knew she wouldn't be bothered by her dreams anymore.

Author's notes: 1) Just to clear up any questions, when Legato is inside Meryl's mind, Meryl is physically in there too. This was something that was never shown in the series.

2) The old man and the geo-plant I referred to appeared in episode 14 of the series. I called it a geo-plant because that's what it's called in the manga.

That's it for Dark Legacy. But I'm not planning to stop writing, so keep checking back. Thanks for all the reviews.


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